Fen 1107

The Christmas Wish

The Hemingway family, a family with four members; Mr. William Hemingway, Mrs.

Jane Hemmingway, their son Perth, and younger sister Sydney. They named their children after

the first country they planned to visit together just two weeks before giving birth to their first

son. Rules and guidelines has always been the family’s first priority.

“Santa Claus is Coming to Townnn” sung by the people all around the village.

Here comes the most wonderful time of the year, the day everyone has been waiting for

forever since, it’s finally christmas eve 2030! The day of bliss and laughter. But it had always

been so different for Perth and Sydney, they never get a chance to celebrate it as much as they

wanted it to be. It had always been as ordinary as a normal day except for some mince pie every

morning, lunch, and dinner for one whole December month, some presents involved for some

years. It had always been like that since they were small continuously every year.

“Ringggggg!” the sound of the alarm clock rang up.

““It’s time for school!” Mrs. Hemingway yelled out from the kitchen, calling her kids,

Perth and Sydney to wake up for school.

“I’m coming” shouted drawly as a habit at 6.30 in the morning.” from both Perth and

Sydney

After the shower, Perth came downstairs to get ready for school.
 “Get to school by yourself today Perth, I have a meeting in 45 minutes today at the office

and I don’t think I can give you a ride after Sydney’s” said Mr. Hemingway

“I’m also busy here in the kitchen making mince pie!” Mrs. Hemingway added

“Sure, see you after the school’s activities, then” Perth replied

As he is making his way outside. Even though the snow seems to be a perfect shape of a

hexagon, completely six pointed with carved stripes in the middle of it, the sky became a brighter

colour than usual. From one building to another, sparkly lights are being hung up across the

roofs. Wreaths were sticking at every neighborhood's front door, looking into each window, the

brightest stars were there, right on top of the decorated trees. Those Christmas trees were

decorated with colourful tinsels and holiday flags and even all the mailboxes were brightened up

with gaudy poinsettias.

School was also extraordinary for him that day. It wasn’t really a school day but more

like exchanging gifts day; Secret Santa, kind of activities.

After coming back home from school, he doesn’t believe or trust anything happening to

him. Every little thing seems to be like an illusion to him.

“My flowers outside might have come back alive! Why are you so early home?” asked

Mrs. Hemingway, filled with concerns.

“Oh, um.. I have a headache mom. I will be in my room, just call me when we are having

dinner” Perth replied back

While he is laying down on his bed, many thoughts came up to his head. He felt

neglected with his childhood. He never had any sleepovers or gone to any party later than 7pm. It

had always been like this for as long as he could remember. Those thoughts keeps on coming up

to his mind until he flaked out. When it was time for dinner Mrs. Hemingway and Mr.
Hemingway called out for Perth to come have dinner together. The dinner had always been so

appetizing and so it was this year, probably the only thing most normal for him then.

“Don’t you have any appointments with your friends, Perth?” asked Mrs. Hemingway

“Whaaat? What did you just say?” replied Perth unexpectedly

“Mom is asking if you are going out for a party tonight or not. Your sister Sydney is

going to her friend’s place after dinner to watch some movies.” said Mr. Hemingway

“This is way toooo weird, mom, dad. What is going on today?” Perth asked with a lot of

inquisitiveness and baffled feelings inside him.

“Nothing! Absolutely nothing?” “What do you mean ‘what’s going on’ anyways?” Mr.

Hemingway asked with a giggle.

“Nothing then, maybe I’m just thinking too much and I’m not going anywhere though. I

might just go take a nap upstairs. This headache is getting me crazy” Perth said after

finishing his last piece of turkey stuffing.

After the desired dinner, he grabbed some icing cookies and chocolate truffles his mother

made during the day to his bedroom upstairs in case he gets hungry. He couldn’t sleep through

the night. The thought of the past keeps coming into his head, when he got scolded because of

coming home later than 7 in the evening, the times when his parents got so stricted he couldn’t

go anywhere, but now, they are letting him go out for a christmas party? The biscuits and candies

he got from downstairs was finished. He decided to grab some more. As he was going down the

stairs, he could hear footsteps of people walking through the hallway from rooms to rooms. He

abruptly turned on the flashlights on his phone.

“Who are you?!” Perth screeched out

“Shhhhhh, be quiet!” The man behind the christmas tree whispered out.
 “You really don’t know who I am?”

“Excuse me? Do I even know you? Get out of here, I’m calling the police and place that

jar of glazed cookies my mom made on the floor too! ”

The man standing behind the tall tree decorated with gold and silver ornaments in addition with

ribbons and gleaming star in the top of the tree gently and deliberately moved near to the

window for some sparkly lights hanging outside to reflect his face.

“Whaa whaaat.. Are you real or is this a joke again?” Perth asked surprisingly.

“Wait, no. Come on dad, I know it’s you. Just stop tricking me like a kid” Perth added

“Perthhhh” Mr. Hemingway shouted from upstairs between his way to the toilet seeing

the door of his son ajar.

“What are you doing down there?”

“Uh, umm.. No, no, nothing dad. I'm just here for some more cookies, will be back soon

don’t worry” Perth said bafflingly

“Okay, leave some for me tomorrow too!” Mr. Hemingway said with a giggle.

He waited until he could hear the second door locked from upstairs and make sure that no one

was actually nearby.

“Ha! Now believe me yet??” asked the man

“This is insane! I’ve lived for many years and never seen a real! Santa Claus! Whaat??”

Perth murmured surprisingly

“Hahahaha, if you don’t believe me then make a wish! Something you really want to do,

ask for it!” Santa Claus said with a huge big smile on his face
 “Really? Are you really going to make my wish come true?” he answered back with an

exaggerated swallowing

“Sure, but there has to be some some exchanges” Santa said

“I’m ready, what are the exchanges?” Perth

“1. Go ask your parents for a 1 night sleepover at your friends house

2. Ask for permission to go party and get home later than 7 pm

3. Give me this jar of cookies, it’s so good I wonder where you bought it” Santa said

cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear.

Perth took a little while to think about the offer until he made a decision to accept it.

“I’m in” Perth replied back rubbing his chin

With still the biggest smile on santa’s face he replied with joy

“Complete the offer in 3 days and I will be back”

The next morning, after waking up, he rushed through the hallway and waited in front of his

parents' bedroom repeatedly checking the time.

“Merry Christmas!!” Mr. Hemingway and Mrs. Hemingway said after coming out of

their rooms

“You are up early today, Perth” Mr. Hemingway added

“Yes, quite excited for christmas” Perth said holding his hands tight

“So, I just wanted to ask. I mean, I know you would refuse and tell me to go read my

books but I just wanted to know if I could go out for a sleepover at Riley’s place tonight

and would probably be back home around 9 in the evening the day after” hiding his hands

behind his back rapidly breathing

“Hahahaha, you look nervous there” Mrs. Hemingway said with a giggled
 “Only Riley? How about the other boys in your group?” Mrs. Hemingway asked with

concerns

“They will probably also be there” Perth added

“Sure then. If you want a ride just tell us, okay?”

Perth got so surprised that his parents approved so he prepared his stuff and got ready to

go. His parents gave him a ride to Riley’s place. During his involvement through the two days

that he never experienced before, he had a lot of fun. He never realised what it is like to ever

have a sleepover and do whatever he wanted to.

“Ringggggg!” the sound of the alarm clock rang up.

Perth waking up sweating, he realised it’s all just a dream. But the other most valuable thing he

realised was that everything in his dream, how he is living his life and how it feels to have a life

without too much restrictions was so much better than the life he is having now. From then he

grasped himself to live the world and from then he started to collect experiences. From that

dream, Christmas has always been his favourite celebrations and of course, some icing donuts for

Santa!